The news has been all abuzz with the results of the President's latest physical exam. The results? He's in great shape! Hip-hip-hooray, everybody!
Too bad they only measure his physical health and do not probe the functioning of his brain - his cognitive abilities, his reasoning faculties, his ability to analyze and synthesize information. Maybe give him a quick IQ test, a quiz on current events and American history, give him some what-happens-next questions. Perhaps he should take the High School exit exams being given as a requirement of his "No Child Left Behind" policy, and maybe an SAT for good measure. Add in a few rounds of "Fact Or Crap?" and some geography fun with a map of the U.S. and a globe. Perhaps a game of "How well do you know the Constitution?"
Not gonna happen. Reagan would never have passed, not in his second term or even towards the end of his first - he was allegedly showing signs of the early onset of Alzheimer's before his re-election. To be fair, Wilson would not have been able to pass in his later years, either, nor perhaps several other Presidents who are respected and regarded more highly than the current office-holder.
Not that it would matter much. Even if a battery of tests were to show that Bush is stupid, incapable of advanced reasoning, prone to fantastical thinking, ignorant of current affairs, ignorant of history, ignorant of the basics of the American system of government, ignorant of the most basic information about the United States and the rest of the world, unaware of the fundamental precepts of science, incapable of discerning facts from spin - well, what would it tell us, other than that he is a fitting representative of a large and vocal proportion of the voting public?
Two and a half more years to go.
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Daryl Sznyter
5 years ago
10 comments:
There is a great difference between stupid and incompetent. You can be brilliant but incompetent for a variety of reasons. I would humbly submit that GWB is not stupid.
With respect to competence --- we need only review the G8 summit: George tries to heal the leader of Germany by laying on his hands (much to her shock and dismay), George reduces the Hezbollah/Isreali conflict to Syria not telling them to cut the crap out (with explitive included), calls to leader of the United Kingdom by saying "Yo" while chewing with his mouth open, then gets faced by Putin in a press conference.
I would say that GW's interest in being President ran out about 2 months after the 2004 election.
Hang in there. If we can survive the summer heat, surely we'll make it 2 1/2 more years.
The great question being: who are we going to be stuck with next?
And isn't it a shame that questions like this even have to be asked of our elected leaders?
Still, however, I do not doubt that there is some form of intelligence to George. Though, he is the President. There should be more then "some form of intelligence" to him, I say. I'm alright with an average Joe in most departments, but the Oval Office... that is a bit much.
Two and a half years-- and then what?
I do honestly believe that George W. Bush is a stupid man. Not merely ignorant - ignorance is a common and easily correctible condition, simply a lack of a basic item of knowledge, although chronic ignorance implies a willingness on the part of the ignorant party. But actually stupid: of low intelligence and low learning capacity, whether due to a simple lack of ability or an unwillingness to try.
There are other forms of stupidity. Jimmy Carter was an extremely intelligent man, but was afflicted with both a brutal honesty and an unwillingness or inability to engage in basic political behaviors. He stood before the country and told us we were in trouble; he did not spin the pretty lies which would boost morale and help lift us out. So we elected Ronald Reagan - an amiable dunce who was willing to lie with a smile on his face and a folksy note in his voice - twice.
Bill Clinton was a very intelligent man. But he made the stupid mistake of thinking that his position gave him carte blanche in the blowjob-from-an-intern department, all while he had a hostile Congress looking for any way to remove him from office. He was wrong, and his misdeeds have paled to insignificance in the face of the actions of his successor.
Yes, I think George W. Bush is a stupid man, a man with little regard for the office that he holds or the government of the nation that he nominally leads. He is a tool in service to those who profit from his actions. But a very stupid tool.
Heh. I spelled "correctable" wrong. How stupid of me.
You can say what you want.
I'm here to comment on how many liberals used this news in a comical way. They were gleeful, inho, to report that he was a little overweight.
I agree with Teigra. What is next? Scarey thought....
I have absolutely no fear about what is next - it can only get better from here.
Super G
In my opinion, it could go either way. Better or worse. I mean, the general public was idiotic enough to re-elect GW during the 2004 election, so who would they be susceptible to next time? The anti-Christ?
Cross your fingers.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Andrew Jackson is probably the epitomy of the "rags-to-riches" syndrome. I mean, he was all character and no education. Yet he is one of history's favorite presidential personalities.
Teigra hit the nail on the head as to why I do not vote.
Why 'settle' for 'the other guy'? IMHO, why vote for a lesser of evils? You're still voting for an evil. I will continue to blatantly refuse to vote until I see a candidate worth voting for. I did not think Bush nor any of his campaigning adversaries were worthy to rule our nation. Bush was "incompetant" and Kerry a brown-nosing liar. So why should I encourage any of them to win, when I don't want either?
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